My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

[Balfree]

I am looking at the following setup:

Mobo:
MB Asus A8V DDR400/LAN/AUDIO

Proc:
CPU ATHLON 64 Bits 3700+ Skt939

Gfx:
ATI RADEON X700 MB PCI-E
or
ATI RADEON X700 PRO MB PCI-E
(What's the damn difference!? Other than the price tag >.<)

Mem:
MEM DDR2 1024 MB PC4300

Sfx:
SB Live5.1 24Bits

Ok, I am very iliterate when it comes to these sort of things, i could use some suggestions because i'm not even sure stuff will be compatible.

The purpose of this pc is just for gaming, i have been saving a couple pennies for this and now i wanna go through with it, obviously the main game i'm looking forward to play on this machine is FFXI, and i'm told the X700 is overkill~

Thanks!

[soneill1986]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

Well I have a Radeon 9600 and I run the game perfectly fine on high resolution with 1536 RAM and a P4 2.8 GhZ processor, if you want a comparison.

[neighbortaru]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

stop. that MB has an AGP slot. the card(s) you are looking at is PCI-E. furthermore, the memory you have DDR2 is not supported.

what is your price range? check these guides out:
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=OTAwLDQ=
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2563&p=3
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2535&p=2

remember if you go Intel, use DDR2. If you go AMD, go DDR.

[TBoTB]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

Why not just get a 3800+ venice as well. You'll have alot more in choice of ram with that chipset (its socket 939 too)

[bside]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

Mobo:
MB Asus A8V DDR400/LAN/AUDIO

like neighbortaru pointed out, this mobo only has an AGP slot. if u r building a hole new pc then PCIe is a way to go. A8V-E, however, is a different thing and it does have a PCIe slot.

btw, unless u have a reason not to go w/ nForce4, or that u r a fan of ASUS and/or VIA, there r other good mobo's for Socket 939. one that many recommend is DFI's Lanparty line of NF4 mobo's which have received many good reviews, and it's almost the only choice among overclockers, for its unbeatable stability.

but if u don't like NF4 for some reason, or u wanna stick to ASUS, that's understandable, too.

Proc:
CPU ATHLON 64 Bits 3700+ Skt939

besides TBoTB's recommendation of A64 3800+ Venice, Opteron 148 also makes a good choice around the same price range.

while Opteron is designed for servers, it's based on the same architecture as A64, has larger L2 Cache, isn't that expensive compared to A64, and of course works fine w/ ffxi. not to mention the fact that it's designed for servers means it's designed to run 24/7, thus higher "durability," resulting in the higher overclock potential (if u care).

however, supply of Opteron 1xx series for Socket 939 is very limited, and u may have some hard time finding one in stock.

Gfx:
ATI RADEON X700 MB PCI-E
or
ATI RADEON X700 PRO MB PCI-E
(What's the damn difference!? Other than the price tag >.<)

i have X700 Pro myself, and it rocks this one offers one of the best price/performance ratios in the market today.

Pro and non-Pro both use the same GPU core (RV410), but have different clock speeds for GPU and VRAM, while the final configuration is up to each of the vid card manufactures. in most cases X700 Pro is 20MHz higher in GPU clock speed, and 160MHz higher in that of VRAM. also, while most non-Pro cards use DDR, many Pro cards have GDDR3, although it's also up to each of the vid card manufactures. (there r GDDR3 non-Pro's and DDR Pro's.)

Sfx:
SB Live5.1 24Bits

from what i've heard, SBLive series of sound cards have experienced some difficulties w/ ffxi. i'm using the external USB audio device, so i'm not fully aware of what the problems r, tho.

[Balfree]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

Goes to show how much i know~!

Would an MB Asrock 775TwinS-HDTV-DDR/DDR2/X300INT be a good replacement for the Mobo? (i kinda overlooked that it wasnt compatible, and the store guy who's gonna assemble it would probably tell me that lol)

I really wanted an AMD cus i simply just prefer AMD >.> but if i need something else to run my Gfx card then so be it, and the guy doesnt have much of a choice in terms of DDR2, and i dont feel like buying anywhere else cus' im getting a nice discount where i'm buying the stuff, maybe i should rely on his judgement for whats best to run my x700?

[neighbortaru]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

if he as asrock boards available to him, I would suggest you try the Asrock 939Dual-SATA2. It's AMD, has BOTH AGP and PCI-E slots (for a plethora of graphics card options) and overclocks like a champ!

[Balfree]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

doesnt have that one i'm afraid >.> what about the one i pointed out, is it good ?

Double Post Edited:
wait a sec... is this it:

MB ASROCK 939A8X-M DDR400/AUDIO/LAN?

I would need DDR memory though, which would just mean i would buy two 512mb sticks

Double Post Edited:
he's also got this one...

MB ASROCK 775DUAL915-PCIE/AGP/DDR400/L/AU

...

Decisions...!

[neighbortaru]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

MB ASROCK 939A8X-M DDR400/AUDIO/LAN

no it's not. from the review on http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/asro...39a8x-m/b7.htm it seems to be an ok board, but i have no experiences with it.

MB ASROCK 775DUAL915-PCIE/AGP/DDR400/L/AU

that would be intel again.

if you are keen on staying in the AMD camp (and for gaming, that would be wise), look for motherboards with socket 939, PCI-E and either NF4Ultra (or SLI for a bit more) or NF 6100/6150+410/430 (new integrated chipset).

[oobilytoob]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

Thank you so much soneill1986, i was wondering how my computer would handle FFXI, i have the same specs as you do so great

[Balfree]

Re: My Computer's Specs (I need suggestions!)

no it's not. from the review on http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/asro...39a8x-m/b7.htm it seems to be an ok board, but i have no experiences with it.
that would be intel again.

if you are keen on staying in the AMD camp (and for gaming, that would be wise), look for motherboards with socket 939, PCI-E and either NF4Ultra (or SLI for a bit more) or NF 6100/6150+410/430 (new integrated chipset).

I'm just gonna let him pick one for me, i'll trust his judgement >.>, if it sucks when i get home, i'll just eat his children.